Entry #2: Launching

    Two main things occur when a player gets hit in Spike. The first is that they receive some damage, which increases a number that keeps count of how much damage they have taken. The other thing is that they get launched. The distance that the player gets launched is based on multiple things and in this post we'll take a look at what those are.

Entry #1: Hitboxes

    For this blog's first entry we are going to talk about one of Spike's most complex mechanics, hitboxes. A hitbox is simply a collision trigger that is generated in order to represent an attack. The collider covers the area that is the attack's effective range and, upon overlapping with another player's collider, registers a hit. Another worthwhile term to know is "hurtbox" which is simply the collider that each player has on them that represents their body and causes them to be hurt by attacks that successfully overlap with it.

Introduction

    Hello and welcome to the Spike Development Diary. Spike, as it is currently called, is a platform fighting game I (Chris Fabiano) am developing with help from Cate Martin. In this blog I will make a series of posts focusing on the different aspects of both Spike's design and programming. The purpose of this is to grant some extra insight to the amount of thought and consideration that goes into every tiny detail of what appears to be a rather simple game. Hope you enjoy!

If you would like to view these posts in correct chronological order (which I recommend) simply start here and click the "newer post" button down at the bottom or use the archive on the right.